This is just my opinion, but I think you need more damage dealing in your squad. I don't like the sanguinary guard for the end game. It's not that the unit is bad. It's just that every other T4 marine does more damage. I think you'd be better off with another devastator. Try to use your T3 Ultramarine and your T3 SW to passively heal as much as possible. I also don't like the use of the grav gun, although I might like it better if it was on a different unit. If you've unlocked the 40% plus to crit chance on your T3 BA tactical marine and you're using that on a grav gun, you're wasting him, IMO. Heck, I'd probably put a plasma gun on him to one shot the pyros or other big beasts in secondary mode, if the crit hits. I'd load down on damage mitigation gear for your T3 SW. Especially an Oath of Immortality (100% damage mitigation for one turn per mission) if you have one or more. I'll often put on marine out in front with damage mitigation gear to soak up attacks for a turn or two. The Tyranid AI will always go after the closest marine. This would be good to use in tandem with Whirlwind and Black Rage as well. Just be careful not to get so aggressive he can't get back to his mates once the damage mitigation wears off. It's especially nice if you have one other marine with damage mitigation gear, so you can switch them off once one has the effect dissipate. Probably your T4 devastator. So, just looking at the roster without knowing what kind of equipment you have, I'd say drop the Sanguinary Guard for a devastator. Go with a damage dealing weapon for the T3 BA tactical marine, whether it's a melta, flamer, or plasma. Go with damage mitigation gear for the BA assault, with a standby to move up after he becomes vulnerable. I've found crit gear and damage mitigation gear are my most important slots. I also tend to use the 15% damage increase seal for whatever weapon my unit is using, and I also use a couple of damage mitigation shields. When I have issues with a tower defense scenario, it's usually that I'm not killing the enemy fast enough. Also, sometimes investing 1AP in a tactical retreat on those maps is helpful. I'll usually start my defense on that map with everyone grouped just outside the barricades at the southeast corner. Then if I start to get overwhelmed, I'll try to pull behind the barricades to somewhat limit how many enemies --- especially ranged enemies --- can attack me. Oh, and I always prioritize ranged attackers, whether pyros, tyranid warriors, or the entry level enemy that shoots. Sometimes it can help to do the scenario again at an easier level to refresh yourself regarding the enemies you'll be facing, the order you'll be facing them in, where they'll be coming from, and the general flow of the combat. You made it out with 2 marines, so you beat the map. I consider that a success! If you want to give it another go, let me know if any of my ideas end up helping you out.
Personally, I'm really loving my BA tacticals with Firescream. Current Squad set up T3 BA Devastator, T3 Plasma cannon (First company relic, Oath of Angels, Auspex) T4 BA Tactician, T4 Melta (Firescream), (Oath of Vengeance, Stun Grenade, Auspex) T4 BA Tactician, T4 Melta (Firescream), (Oath of Angels, Stun Grenade, Auspex) T4 BA Tactician, T4 Melta (Firescream), (Oath of Vengance, Oath of Angels, T4 Stimpack) T4 BA Assault, T4 Fist/Plasma (Xeno crusher, Medusa, (Rite of Unceasing Service, Oath of Immortality, Impedance shield) This set up gives me a solution for almost any problems in Heroic. I can cycle through the 3 Tactician buffs for damage and add in an Auspex if i need clearing. Also, a tactician with Oath of Vengeance and Oath of Angels, plus tactician buffed, can run right into the shadows and around bends to black rage, return APs and continue to clear the big guys. If that isnt enough, the stimpack can work to clear the last big guys out or retreat. The BA devastator with First Company relic is an insurance for those Crit immune big guys. Charge + Preparation allows my Dev to fire off 8AP plasma blasts on them when required. The assault is an occasional tank, going into known groups of melee, with or without Oath of Immortality. Lastly, if all fails, the 2 stun grenades gives me breathing space for another turn. I may swap the Oath on Devastator to a Tactician and have him hold either an Auspex or another First Company. Still sitting on that choice I have 2 more BA Tacts (since they are so damn common), and a T4 Apoth. May level them up eventually for the future. At the moment, Tactician passive + Firescream returns 10% health, paired with their massive damage potential, i dont lose them except to a careless black rage from another guy
I feel the best team possible is the following : Lone Wolf Frostskull's Strength Medusa Saga of the Iron Wolf x3 x5 Max out crit and hit and you have 100% accuracy and 100% chance to critical given weapon stats and evaluate Target You have 5 AP to start and a 40% chance to gain 1 AP every time you move a tile. If it never procks. You still have an additional 30 AP per marine you can use in a single turn, or split up into multiple turns. There is also charge. Charged up shot on the Medusa owns everything. This build turned heroic into a walk in the park
That looks like a pretty strong setup as well, unfortunately i do not have that much Lone wolfs to try on.
"I dont lose them except to a careless black rage from another guy. Lol. My favorite is when I hit the cleave button without thinking and one shot one of my own guys. What an idiot. At least with Black Rage it's not obvious. I don't like the T4 Priest for Heroic. If I had it I'd level him up for completionist sake, but he doesn't do enough damage as far as I'm concerned. And your healing is already taken care of by the other units. I love the stun grenades. They're awesome at helping get me out of a tight fix. How do you use your Oath of Vengeance? I mean, I understand how it works, but what are the scenarios where you find it particularly useful? That BA Assault looks like a blast to play. It sounds like a fun squad!
Thank you R:Kidd, its indeed quite fun to play. As for Oath of Vengeance, it works very well when you know there are big groups of critters behind that turn. I'll usually expend all 5AP to position myself for maximum coverage before using item/ability buffs, Oath of Vengeance and blackraging. Depending on situation i can actually get up to 8AP (some from tactician passive)and clear those big gunners that hide in shadows all the time (i take a total of 3 hits for them. 1 from Black rage, 1 normal and 1 more hit which will return AP from Oath.) very often i find myself with left over AP after clearing a big space and i'll decide if i want to explore alittle more, especially since his damage is buffed for the turn.
I beat A9M3 easily yesterday with a ranged team: Because I had flamers that could blow up the objective bomb by accident, I instead immediately moved the team to the bottom of the map, killing the brood lord, big guy with a gun and some genestealers on the way. Then occupied some of the very bottom squares and feel like I stopped half the enemies, from spawning. The carnifex did spawn but I think I could have stopped this by not occupying the very bottom squares but instead spreading the marines out: There are only two spawn areas big enough for him. Even without this trick the wolf guard with kraken breath flamers would have annihiliated the tyranids anyway. A great team. I have also beaten this map with tier 3 marines. Now I'm wondering if it's possible to do it consistently with tier 2s. Actually I'm thinking the tier 4 marines are overpowered: Even without their extra abilities, the fact they get 5 AP means and the fact that the missions are probably balanced for 4 - 4.2? AP on average means they have too easy a time. It would have been nicer if they'd been more balanced i.e.no +1AP skill. @Kharkov: I'm not arguing that it's not nice to be able to earn some of the IAP, nor that this is a very good game, just that the IAP is very poor value. I would dispute though that £3 for a character of your choice is poor value but £30 randomised packs are good value, just because you can earn a £30 pack in-game if you spend 6 hours grinding / 24 hours playing. I don't see how your ability to grind the pack affects the dollar-value of a pack. It just gives you a dollar/time conversion rate, and if you are grinding A2M4 then you are not playing a game, you are literally repeating the same actions over and over.
I'm so thick! Guys you've changed everything....on 9.3 I never realised you could leave the bomb! Always thought the xenos would go for it for some reason. Such a tool That plus fists....it's like butter. So I don't seem like a complete fool: the reason was because at low levels the saws are wiping enemies well enough not to need it and for some reason I never got out of that thinking. Thanks to the refresh, guys the Emperor's Fist salutes you o7
Yeah and "max out crit"...like that's nothing Plus can you loan me a wolf? I got none over here but all the bling to go with him
Nice. I think I managed to contract your repeated pack bug. Pulled a bunch of Lone Wolves in relatively quick succession. Just trying to farm a 5th Frostskull's Strength for them and I'll be cooking on gas! No sign of a Master of Relics, Wolf Guard or Sanguinary Priest yet.
@R:kidd thanks for the feedback, its appreciated, i'm going to run through veteran again and level a UM dev, not in rush to finish the game anyway, i'm still having fun with it! While 5 lone wolves sounds amazing I don't even have one, never mind 5 frost skulls My single medusa is my pride and joy with the fenrisian frost axe so I have a ways to go before I can try that out
Wait, what?? You pulled a "bunch of Lone Wolves"? How did you do that? Sometimes I'm wondering if we're all playing the same game here?!?
I have felt the same thing at times. I just got the last common marine I was missing after.. about 130 packs or so. Missing five now, all T4s.
The pulls do seem a bit odd: Just a guess on the pack numbers: packs 1 - 60 no T4 61 - 80 1 sanguinary guard 80 - 150 8 sternguard!, 1 sanguinary priest, 1 wolf guard 150 - 200 2 sanguinary priest, 2 honour guard, 2 UM assault, 1 wolf guard Then the update to version 1.1 200 - 250 3 wolf guard, 1 UM assault, 1 sanguinary guard 250 - 270 4 lone wolves!, 1 long fan ancient 270 - 310 No T4 310 - 330 1 long fang ancient, 1 sanguinary guard, 1 UM assault
